Thursday, June 3, 2010

An Isla Vista Stroll – Part 3

There were a lot of locals and college people on the sand, just hanging out on their chairs and towels against the base of the bluffs. Others were surfing and kayaking. We headed North towards the point where there are rocks and small tide-pools.

One thing I saw looming in the distance was an oil rig a few miles off shore, which I don’t recall being in that spot my last time there. Being that it was the same day that another plan to stop the huge oil leak in the Gulf had failed, I couldn’t help but see the oil rigs off of Santa Barbara as much more of a threat than I ever had in the past.

Brenda and I noticed that the rocks along the shore had a lot of tar build-up on them, and we also saw tar flakes all along the water’s edge. It looked like years of these flakes being washed ashore and settling on the coast had produced big globs of tar covering many of the rocks resting against the bluffs.

The day was extremely bright. With only twenty-one days to go until the longest day of the year, Brenda and I found it hard to take posed pictures of each other without squinting painfully in the direct sunlight.

Notice the oil rig looming off in the distance at the very top of the frame.